Second Semester Senior

Some people would take their last semester of college easy, maybe not take as many classes, or take classes on wine appreciation, vegetable gardening, or flower arranging (all real classes at the U of I). Maybe some people would just spend a couple extra hours on the internet or hanging out with friends, or just go to Logo night every week.

Wimps.

In all honesty, I think I’m doing my senior year wrong, as I’m going to have overloaded both semester, particularly this last one. Don’t believe me? I’m taking four languages.

IB 100: the last gen. ed. I really hope the description is accurate when it says it’s for “non-majors”

So, I’m crazy, but what else is new? My last grad. application, Virginia, is due Tuesday, and I’m baking now. It’s cold out like only central Illinois can get, cold like freezing and you know it can only get worse. It’s weird to think that this could be my last winter in Illinois for at least awhile. I only just realized yesterday that I wouldn’t have another fall semester at Illinois. Fall is my favorite season regardless, but fall at U of I is the quintessential blustery, red and yellow, blue-skied fall that universities put on postcards and fliers. Fall next year is going to be a change, whether it’s back home or at another school. I’ll miss it, of course, but there are lots of places I miss, summer at the shop, spring in Istanbul, and fall at Illinois will be another one of them.

This final semester will be a lot of learning words. We’ll see how well I keep German and French separate, but I can promise you already that I will still say “teşekkürler” to my instructors by accident. I can also promise that I will still stay up late both doing work and not doing work, and that there will be times when I will read A Dance With Dragons instead of doing homework. I may even go to Logo night knowing full well that I’ll have an archaeology class the next morning.